


Sucks To Be Me

by Fox_155



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Dating, M/M, Probably Crack, Vampires, Witches, also a lot of mentions of the quadratic formula, but this wont be very deep, mild crisis over immortality, taeil and johnny study maths so proceed with caution lol, vampire popculture references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:20:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28263039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fox_155/pseuds/Fox_155
Summary: Taeil wakes up with a hangover from hell (yet again) and a bite on his shoulder in a stranger’s bed.Nothing to worry about, right? Some Aspirin and he’s as good as new – if not for the weird desire to eat his classmates and the cute guy from tutor training talking some stuff about vampires.Lucky for Taeil, vampires aren’t real!(Or are they?)
Relationships: Moon Taeil/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 43
Kudos: 177





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> None of this is supposed to be an accurate reflection of the people by whom the characters are inspired. 
> 
> Months ago, I made a poll to have people vote a Taeil ship. JohnIl won. This is the result. Wheeee
> 
> Also, this fic will be open-ended bc the focus is on Taeil turning into a vampire, I’ve warned you!

As a lightweight, Taeil was well-advised to keep track of his drinks carefully. In theory, he diligently did so.

In reality, his head was pounding, bursting, exploding, most definitely plotting his certain end. Soon end. Very soon. Five minutes away, tops.

It went without saying that he had lost track of his ethanol intake yesterday.

Again.

Counting always became difficult after the first glass even though he was doing a Master’s degree in maths and single-digits shouldn’t be _that_ challenging.

At least he always remembered the quadratic formula, his high school teachers would be _so_ proud.

Contrary to them, his brain wasn’t as filled with pride and happiness that he managed to recite it flawlessly in any given situation and announced its wish to have him throw up over b to the power of two.

Oh, _joy_.

He should really get up and relocate into the bathroom, just in case.

Carefully, Taeil peeled his eyes open and then very, _very_ slowly got himself up to 90°.

Wait.

Fuck, he had blinked too quickly and now he felt even sicker, but despite putting himself into more agony, the room was still completely unfamiliar.

He wasn’t home, that much even his grumpy brain had figured out.

For a second, he ran through the options.

Doyoung? No, Doyoung’s room was speck-less yet overcrowded with furniture.

Kun? No, Kun had a roommate living on the other side of his room.

Mark? Mark was an option and Taeil didn’t feel entirely petrified imagining he had passed out in Mark’s bed.

He hadn’t… right? No. No, Taeil didn’t do that stuff, he only pulled out at the 10th date or so.

Remembering not to upset his stomach more, Taeil looked around the bed, but, luckily, it was empty. Save for himself, that was.

But the dark red satin sheets really seemed _very_ out of character for Mark? He had never been at Mark’s place, but Mark definitely didn’t strike Taeil as the type to invest in something like this. Thinking about it, he even doubted Mark had matching pyjamas… or pyjamas at all.

A photo on the nightstand caught Taeil’s eye and he leaned closer. Slowly, this time, but his stomach wouldn’t let itself be appeased and he had to breathe very deeply.

Okay, no, nope, this wasn’t Mark’s bed or room or flat and while that made a lot of sense, Taeil was extremely unhappy to have come to that conclusion.

Fuck. Not good. Really not good.

Help?

Okay, there was no one to help him here.

Extraordinary circumstances required extraordinary measures. So, Taeil gathered his thoughts to help himself – as in, he asked himself: what would Taeyong do in this situation?

So, yeah, very reasonably and maturely, Taeil found himself on the street three minutes later.

He had struggled a little finding the door, but now nothing was holding him, not even his hangover and the excruciating nausea nor the knowledge that Taeyong would have _not_ done this.

The shame was so much stronger and allowed him to power through the torture that was hurrying down the street.

As he went, he did a quick once-over, but there were no sore muscles or anything to give him a clue.

Other than everything sore from his hangover, that was. He truly hated last-night-Taeil, what an unreliable douche.

He was also still dressed how he remembered having been when he had left, even his money and phone were still in his pocket.

Checking his messages was way too much of an effort right now, though, so that would have to wait.

He’d rather not face the reality of his friends being aware of this.

Not like he’d judge anyone for it, but if it was about himself, it was a different topic. He felt deep discomfort at the idea of sleeping with some random stranger. Hell, he didn’t even remember a face or a name, it was mortifying.

Best he’d just pretend this had never happened. Honestly, there was a good chance nothing had happened anyway, so he’d just roll with the version in which he had just slept _at_ some stranger’s place.

A stranger with satin bedsheets… Taeil really liked satin to sleep in because it was so sleek and cooling in the summer, yet warming in the winter…

Anyway, where was he even?

“Don’t say anything.”

“I’m not saying anything.”

“Okay.”

Taeil pulled his shoes off and struggled to hang his jacket on one of the hooks on the door. It was overloaded because there were already three on the very same hook, but the other ones were even fuller. There was a very serious lack of space here, as there was pretty much in every flat in this city. Tetris or suffocate in your belongings it was.

“You look fucked up.”

“I said not-“

“Yes, yes. Do you need some water? Painkillers? A shower?”

Taeil stared at his roommate blankly. He saw double. This wasn’t good, was he still drunk?

“All. I’ll go and throw up.”

“Have fun, I’ll be there in a sec to hold your hair!”

Taeil would love to point out how there was hardly anything to hold back, but Jungwoo was already waltzing to the small kitchen in the corner.

And he really had to go.

At least he knew he’d feel better after this. Not like he could do anything about it anyway.

Or not.

Just a couple of seconds into emptying his stomach and regretting all the choices he had made that had led him to this point, he heard Jungwoo scream behind him.

 **Screech**.

The mirror must be bursting and bats stirring by the frequency of the soundwaves. Were his ears bleeding now? He really didn’t need more inconveniences today.

Cool hands were on his neck immediately, one snaking around to his forehead to hold his hair as promised, however, he still didn’t get any quiet.

“Taeil! Shit! Your neck! What happened? What were you up to? You look mauled, did you, you know? I never knew! You seem so calm and vanilla!”

What?

“I mean, of course I don’t judge, but that looks _nasty_! Like someone went too far and, um, much too far. Was that consensual? I think that might actually need stitches or something… at least disinfectant?”

Taeil had no idea what Jungwoo was rambling about and he really just wanted some quiet, but he was preoccupied and couldn’t reply.

“I mean, you can tell them it was a dog… or maybe not. Is there anything else you’re into? Wait. Do you have stuff hidden in the flat? Are there places I shouldn’t look? It’s totally fine, I was just surprised. Do you have some dom or something? I thought you were single. Well, you could be and still have a dom, right? That’s how that works, isn’t it?”

Taeil had absolutely no idea. What was some dom? A sort of alcohol?

“Feel better?”

“Tons.”

Wordlessly, Jungwoo handed him a cup of water and Taeil managed to sit up with his help.

He did feel a lot better, but the world was still spinning at least mildly.

“So? Where were you? And with whom?”

“I don’t know. I think nothing happened. I just got drunk and someone probably felt pity. Nothing serious.”

Hopefully.

“Um…”

Jungwoo’s eyes wandered down. They looked a little too amazed for it to be normal. Taeil reached up to feel if his clothes were ripped or something? Maybe a surprise tattoo he had gotten while sloshed?

No.

Not that.

Instead, he felt a scab, a big scab, on the base of his throat in the form of two crescents.

“The **FUCK**?”

So, yeah.

Apparently, Taeil had accidentally made out with someone very kinky. Probably just made out, though.

He had Jungwoo disinfect what was very clearly a _bite_ and slathered zinc salve on before covering everything with a plaster.

He then forced Jungwoo to sign a quickly drafted NDA and dug up all his turtlenecks. It was cold anyway. He needed the warmth.

No one would _ever_ know.

Especially not Ten.

All was well.

This night had been perfectly normal.

“So. How was he?”

Or not.

Kun smiled over his lunch, Doyoung had his mum-look on, and Taeyong was lost in his iPad.

“What?”

“The guy. You know? The one you really wanted to go home with even though you never do that? Was it a good decision?” Doyoung prompted. He looked more worried by the second as if he wasn’t the only one of this friend group who always brought condoms when they went out – and always used them.

“I’m sure it was, right, Illie?” Taeyong momentarily spared them a glance, smiling, then returned to the sketch. It looked like yet another expressionistic piece. Taeil had no idea about art, but he thought the pretty things Taeyong drew were a lot nicer than the ones that made him consider if he might need to report his friends to the proper authorities.

“Nothing happened. I slept and woke up with a hellish hangover.”

Doyoung furrowed his brows.

“You don’t have to lie, we don’t judge you or anything, just making sure.”

“As if you had any room to judge,” Kun teased and Doyoung’s face turned pink.

Ah, yes.

No-I’ll-look-for-something-serious-and-off-with-the-first-pretty-ass-he-sees-Kim Doyoung.

“I don’t know what you mean. I’m making myself available.”

“Riiight.”

Taeil couldn’t hold back from grinning at the denial. He didn’t judge either, obviously, but Doyoung was toeing the line of being a hypocrite right now – and he knew that just as well as then, which was why he was flailing.

“I’m sure you’ll all find true love soon!” Taeyong chipped in.

“Are you sure you’re qualified to give advice on that?”

“Yes! I am the only person here thinking rationally because I’ve already seen through what a simple and, frankly, obsolete concept it is! Come on, what’s with the long faces? It can’t be that difficult if it’s pretty much the norm portrayed for humans and I’m the one who constantly has to explain why I don’t need it.”

“I feel very called out yet misunderstood,” Doyoung muttered and Taeyong petted his head affectionately. 

“Well, Taeil’s fine, what about you, Doyoung?” Kun carried on, completely unbothered by the look Doyoung sent him.

Oh, dear.

“You fell for your one-night-stand again?” Taeil sighed. It was a tragic story, a drama in 15 acts and counting. Doyoung said he was making himself available, but he just usually went for the wrong type of person and got himself hurt in the process.

Silence spread over their table. After a while, Kun cleared his throat.

“Great. So. Do you have their name?”

The whine Doyoung made was telling, but he remained upright and proud.

“I have his name. Partially.”

“How do you have part a name?” Taeyong inquired, blinking a few times.

“He said to call him Jay, so.”

Taeil took another bite of his food. He truly had no advice to give. Taeyong wouldn’t have any advice to give either and Kun might know relationship stuff, but he had met his boyfriends online and their relationship remained long-distance for the meanwhile.

Taeyong still tried.

“That’s a great starting point!”

“It’s really not, though,” Kun chipped in.

“At least I know his name!” Doyoung snorted and then dug into his lunch, effectively ending the conversation.

Taeil had been chewing on the same mouth-full of noodles the entire time. He wasn’t even sure why he was chewing this, but he couldn’t find it in himself to swallow. That rarely happened in any situation. He hadn’t been feeling this when he had ordered, but there were very limited choices offered and he couldn’t starve, right? He had two afternoon-classes and would need the energy!

Pained, he forced himself to finally get on.

He almost threw back up.

Great.

“Are you okay?” Kun asked. He must have noticed.

“Guess I might still be hungover,” Taeil muttered. He hadn’t felt like having breakfast either, but he hadn’t wrenched when he had eaten the half-assed Ramen.

He was hungry, though. And thirsty.

He took a huge sip of water before he forced himself to have another mouthful.

It was about as delightful as the first. After three more bites, he decided to just have the pickled radish and the pieces of chicken in the broth because he felt like it. He could get himself some snacks between classes or something. It was a pity because he had paid for this, but cafeteria food wasn’t very expensive, so he’d manage.

At least Mondays brought one joy: the tutor training.

Okay, well, no, the training in itself wasn’t the greatest joy because Taeil was studying maths and not the type to become a teacher. Why he was doing it? Well, the job had been so excitingly over-paid during his Bachelor’s degree that he had still volunteered to teach scared first and second semesters of other majors the ins and outs of intermediate Analysis.

He had just stuck to it, much to the delight of the coordinator of the tutorials in her constant search for more qualified amateur teachers.

For the first four weeks of every semester, he had to re-take the training to keep his certification, so it was about as exciting as watching paint dry hearing it the fifth time.

This semester, however, there was some alternative occupation to staring at the wall and wishing for 60 minutes to pass at two-times speed: the buff guy with the chocolate hair, fitted trousers, and tattoo on his left hand that was visible even in March-appropriate fashion.

Taeil was enjoying tutoring training so much more and the stranger was to be thanked for that. He had never seen him before, but he might have just started his degree this year and moved from another uni.

What a blessing.

Taeil had snacked on entirely too many beef jerkies because that had been the only thing he had felt like over the afternoon and his two classes of brain-breaking maths. He felt thirsty again, but if he considered the sodium he had taken in via his lunch-replacement, he was truly not surprised by that.

Because the thought of drinking water made him feel sick again, which was starting to become a theme of the day (week? Who knew, Taeil just wished it would stop, but no one was asking him), he had unreasonably bought coke at 5 pm.

He’d be sleeping wonderfully tonight.

At 5:30 sharply, Ten had asked him if he knew inside information about Doyoung’s crush. God knew where Ten had found out about that, but maybe he had read the cards or something. Taeil didn’t really think magic was real, but in case it was, Ten was definitely the most magical person he knew.

Unfortunately, Ten didn’t fully believe in using it for good and the common benefit or anything.

Lost in offering explanations to Ten, Taeil failed to keep track of the other students filing into the room, some already looking like they needed another break just three weeks into the semester. Poor souls.

A grave mistake.

“Hey. Is here free?”

Taeil startled so badly, he dropped his phone.

For a second, it was as though time stopped and he saw it fall in slow-motion. Could he move, he could have grabbed and saved it, but he was frozen.

Fuck, he needed that!

And then, a hand shot forward and caught it from the air and time was back to normal.

“My bad, I didn’t mean to startle you,” the deep voice assured.

Taeil looked up.

Oh.

Oh, damn.

“Uh. Yeah. No issue. Yeah. Thanks for saving that. That was like Edward in the car park scene, right?” Taeil heard himself laugh. Someone needed to stop him. Where was Taeyong when he needed him?

Right, studying art.

“Oh, I feel flattered. I know I’m quite charming but to be compared to the heartthrob of the year 2008? May I sit here?”

Taeil stared blankly. Buff guy was even more handsome up close. What a blessing, indeed. Or not.

This was why he was single.

“Sure.” Nailed it.

“Thanks. You’re cute! What’s your name?”

What was his name, indeed? It was something with T…

“Taeil. Hi. Hi, nice to meet you.” Brilliant. He had remembered his own name. Someone hand him an award!

“Pretty name for a pretty guy. I’m Johnny. Have you been doing this for longer?”

Johnny smiled. He was very dreamy, he had such plump lips with such a cute natural curve.

Ah! Question! He had to answer a question!

“This is the fifth semester I’m doing it. I started during my Bachelor’s and took a break for the last semester.”

No one had asked, could he stop oversharing from the first second on?

Again, _this_ was why he was single.

“Oh, you got your Bachelor’s here, too? So you started in your second semester already? You must be so smart!”

“Fourth. Actually. I started in my fourth semester. I’m in my third semester now.”

Johnny gasped.

He was cute. His sweater looked soft and comfy. Taeil wanted to steal it.

What was wrong with him??

“My bad, you look so young!”

“I heard that before, I’m just short.”

“You’re cute-sized.”

“And you’re hunk-sized.”

Where was his impulse control in the form of Lee Taeyong? _Where_??

“I know.” And then buff Johnny winked.

Taeil giggled nervously. Help!

 _This was why he was single, but he didn’t_ want _to be!_

“Anyway, do you have recommendations? My mentor wants me to do this because I want to stay at university to get a doctorate after this, but I’ve never taught anyone before.”

Taeil noticed Johnny’s eyes dropping to his neck. It felt familiar because it was what Jungwoo had been doing every other minute ever since they had noticed the bite (THE BITE) yesterday.

Luckily, no one but Jungwoo and Taeil knew about that and Johnny had probably gotten distracted by something. Taeil was wrapped up safe and sound in a nice little turtleneck, looking like his own grandpa.

“The chairs usually provide the worksheets, so you don’t so much have to worry about how to construct the course, but it’s important to time the lesson so you don’t run out in the end. Preparation is key, so you know how long things will take. I usually solve the issues once, time it, turn it into percentages, and then apply them to 90 minutes to schedule.”

Johnny hummed and smiled at him again.

“I thought that as well. Thanks, Taeil. Hey, there is only this lesson left, but I feel like I might have more questions as I get started with my students. Could I ask you?”

“Sure, yeah, no problem. Any time. Other than at night. Probably. Sometimes I’m awake at night.”

Please. Stop!

“Thanks! Can you give me your number?”

“Your _number?_ ”

“Jungwoo, my ears, oh my god.”

“But he asked your number, the really hot buff dude you’ve mentioned a few times? That’s so exciting, Taeil aaaah!”

Taeil found himself violently shaken by his roommate.

Being angry with Jungwoo, even when they did physical harm to you, was just impossible, though. They were simply like an excitable little puppy and thus Taeil let it happen silently.

It was cute that there was someone who cared more about Taeil’s non-existent love life than he did.

“He might actually end up not writing anything. Or if he does, it might be very boring and not go anywhere,” he pointed out once Jungwoo had let out most of their excitement and sat down next to Taeil again.

“Well, he better does! Why would he have asked otherwise?” Jungwoo snorted and dug into their bag of gummy bears to quench their sudden in-between hunger. If Jungwoo didn’t get food at least 10 times a day, they’d starve. Taeil had wondered where they put all that food before, but Jungwoo said their metabolism was very fast and since they did sports on top, it just burnt up like that.

The upside of not sharing that kind of metabolism was that Taeil had a much cuter ass. They had fought about that at length when they had both been a bit drunk, but in the end, even Jungwoo had agreed. Not like he could gain anything from that, but Taeil was somewhat proud of it.

“Maybe he just felt like flirting. You know there are people who do this for fun and their own, personal entertainment.”

“Ten?”

“Among others.”

“Well, I personally think you’re way too pessimistic – as per usual!”

“That’s why I’m single.”

“That’s why you’re single. Speaking of…”

“You need the room for sex? When?”

The next morning, Taeil felt like he had been run over by a truck. Or a horde of elephants.

He had no idea why, but he had found it next to impossible to find sleep. His bed had been too hard, too soft, too narrow, too hot, too cold, the light had bothered him, then it had been too dark.

Yet morning had cruelly still come and left him feeling like a Zombie on holiday.

The worst part? Despite being hungry, he couldn’t bring himself to even make his regular breakfast Ramen. Just the scent of the plain noodles made him feel like throwing up – again, the motto of the week, very exciting.

Noodles didn’t even usually smell like anything, right? Well, today they sure did and it was offensive.

Because it seemed like a reasonable decision, he instead opened a pack of bacon that had been meant for cooking and ate that. Raw. It sounded disgusting, but it was so yummy that he didn’t care.

The bite on his neck and shoulder area had healed up very nicely. So nicely, that Taeil had to ask Jungwoo about their zinc salve because that had near-magical healing properties. Only a small scab remained and Taeil was confident he could pass that off as something non-kinky very easily.

He finished the last slice of bacon and because he felt like Jungwoo wouldn’t be as excited about this choice of breakfast, he buried the packaging in the rubbish bin.

Like, if he thought about it, he was kinda disgusted, too, but it had been delicious?

Weird.

This particular February day was so obnoxiously sunny, that Taeil had to hide under the hood of his jacket because it felt like it was burning his eyes and skin right off his bones. It was probably the lack of sleep that made him feel this way, his head was kinda swimming and he was imagining things like that he was able to hear better and smell things he definitely couldn’t. A lack of sleep did that to you, Taeil had plenty of experience with that.

He wasn’t entirely sure how he got through his morning classes.

The guy next to him kept fidgeting and seemed nervous as he kept checking his phone. Maybe he had fought with someone? A job interview? Concert ticket pre-sale? Whatever it was, Taeil could hear his heart thunder and smell the scent of sweat growing stronger as the period carried on. It wasn’t particularly nasty, but it was just very inconvenient and distracting.

Also, why was his heart beating that loudly? Didn’t seem healthy. Should he recommend the dude to go and see a doctor? Or was that rude?

Taeil managed to still keep up with the professor’s explanations, which was truly a saving grace, but he also wasn’t sure how his tired brain was able to do that. Multi-tasking had never before been his strong suit.

Perhaps he had unlocked the skill overnight and thus had slept so badly?

So many questions…

By the time lunch break rolled around, Taeil was starving, awake yet his head was swimming and still hallucinating, so it was a great overall experience.

He was supposed to meet up with Kun and Doyoung in the cafeteria, but he didn’t get that far.

“Hey.”

Buff and handsome Johnny had somehow materialised in the hallway.

Wait, he could have been in that class. Maybe. Had Taeil missed him? HIM?

Sacrilegious!

“Hey, how’s it going?” He smiled up at Johnny because his brain was still generously working for him. He fully expected it to stop any second now because none of this was normal – but who was Taeil to complain? He was just a simple university student, he’d take what he got.

“Good, good. How about you?” Johnny was blocking his way now and Taeil stopped. He was freaking huge. For a split second, Taeil’s mind provided detailed insight into how that could benefit them both – then he got his dirty mind back under control.

He wasn’t 14 anymore, dear Lord!

“Fine. I guess. Didn’t sleep much last night.” Literally no one had asked.

Johnny was eying him closely, furrowing his brows.

He must be noticing the purple eye bags. Truly an overreaction, normally Taeil only got those after a week on no sleep, but hey. He was not complaining about additional attention from this very hot male specimen.

“So, um.” Johnny cleared his throat and Taeil noticed his eyes dropping to his collar. Was this something people normally did and he had only now started to realise now that there was the hugest embarrassment of his life to hide?

“There might be something I have to talk to you about. Are you free for lunch, perhaps?”

Was this a date? It didn’t sound like a date, but Johnny was beaming and also still very handsome, so Taeil would just pretend it was.

“Sure, sure. Yeah. I’ll let my friends know I’m ditching them.”

This was mature adult behaviour, right? Taeyong certainly wouldn’t be doing this, but in this specific situation, Taeyong’s advice was no good anyway.

“Great!”

“Where do you usually go to eat? Main cafeteria or the science building one?”

Taeil was typing out some excuse in the chat and glanced up at Johnny, who was walking next to him with suspiciously small steps.

“Errrrr…”

“Oh, you’re new, right?” Taeil realised. Wow, the consideration he was able to show Johnny. He was totally going to fall for him at the speed of light. This was going great – but then again, Taeil had also thought it was going great the first twenty times he had imagined he might finally get into a relationship.

He was either healthily optimistic or really stupid, but he liked to believe it was the former.

“Riiiight. I am. Very new.” Johnny smiled. He was a little dorky, too, right? That worked right in Taeil’s favour.

“The science cafeteria is actually a lot nicer, but it’s smaller and people know it’s better, so it’s chronically overrun and out of the best menus. It’s closer, though, so let’s try there?”

Taeil tried to imagine some great lunch, but he realised he didn’t feel like any of his regulars.

Meat. He wanted red meat, nice and bloody, preferably raw… was he going actually insane? Should he warn Jungwoo that he might turn into a bloodthirsty murderer soon? Also, as good as the cafeteria was, steak was not on the regular menu.

“Sure, I’m fine with whatever you recommend, you know what you’re talking about.”

Taeil wished he knew some witty reply, but he didn’t, so he just returned the smile and led the way.

It was surprisingly non-awkward, so at least he had that going for him.

Also, he could subtly ogle Johnny. Or at least what he believed was subtle. Then again, he didn’t mind if Johnny noticed, after all, he wanted this to go somewhere. He needed to know the other party informed and involved to achieve that.

The cafeteria was as overrun as expected. It also smelt badly. Like something had gone bad or… died… three weeks ago…

No one else seemed bothered, though, so Taeil pretended he was fine. Chances were this was connected to his hangover somehow.

Next time he’d have himself in check a lot better, that was for certain!

“So…” Johnny eyed the blackboards on which today’s meals were chalked up.

“So. I’ll get…” Yeah, nothing, Taeil was going to get nothing, thank you.

“You know, I’m not really a lunch guy, I’ll just get myself some coffee. How about we meet at the table?” Johnny suggested.

Great, so Taeil could fully indulge in his new disgust with food without worrying about being labelled as unstable.

“Sure. I’ll find you!”

“Will you know how?” Johnny looked worried as if he wasn’t towering over everyone around them.

“I don’t see anyone who could rival your appearance right now, I’ll manage,” Taeil chuckled and hurried away before Johnny could realise he was trying to flirt. If he just left before seeing the reaction, he could continue to live in the belief he was charming without any doubts.

Okay, there were doubts, but Taeil had enough confidence to accredit those to society having fucked his brain and confidence up.

He just picked menu 1 because they were all looking absolutely awful and it wouldn’t make a difference. At least this had some pork – probably not bloody, though.

Maybe he’d go to buy more bacon on the way home. Yeah. That seemed like a reasonable idea. Taeil was very happy with himself already.

Because he was thirsty, Taeil got himself the 1-litre bottle of coke.

Great decisions only.

The queue was daunting, but Taeil didn’t have a choice, so he just faced the cruel reality that was waiting.

He stared at the shirt of the girl in front of him. It was cute. Light orange or something.

They moved two steps ahead.

The chattering around him was louder than normal, or easier to understand. He wasn’t sure. He heard people complain, gossip, or just talk about the news of the day. Like during the lecture, he heard the heartbeat of the people in front and behind him, those closest. It was odd, but he didn’t really mind it anymore. It should be overwhelming, but his brain seemed to cope well.

When the girl in front of him put her tray on the small counter to have the cashier assess what she was buying, she moved in a way that revealed some of her shoulders.

Her skin was paler there, and Taeil could see the faint pulse of her blood running through veins underneath it.

Her heart was beating evenly, she was relaxed, calm.

He took a step closer, eyes still fixed on her, but then she moved and he snapped out of it.

Okay, that had been weird.

“Next!”

As expected, finding Johnny wasn’t difficult, even though he had chosen the furthest corner to sit down. Or probably not chosen, it was packed, they were lucky they had a table to themselves.

“Thank you for waiting, the queue was long.”

Taeil slipped into the chair to Johnny’s left, dropping his bag on the ground and tray on the table.

He was so not hungry. On the contrary. At least he didn’t feel like throwing up anymore? Must be an improvement!

“No worries, the coffee is great! I actually owe you for telling me about this place!”

“Do you? I’ll let you make it up by treating me to coffee some time.”

Johnny smirked and Taeil felt a small shiver down his spine.

Damn, this was going so well for him!

“Well, about that.” Johnny’s excitement dampened and he looked down at the cup, playing with it. Taeil heard the coffee inside splash back and forth. It smelt bitter, no milk, no sugar.

The crack of the cap of the bottle giving in under Taeil’s fingers twisting it interrupted Johnny’s brooding and he startled.

“Sorry!” Taeil immediately muttered. He hadn’t realised Johnny had been this lost in thought.

“No worries. Now we’re even, right? So.” Johnny looked up, the discomfort now clear on his face.

Taeil was actually quite amazed because Johnny had been nothing but charming and confident thus far – what was on his mind that could be this bad? They hardly even knew each other.

“Actually, I’m a vampire.”

Johnny’s smile was crooked and Taeil stared back at him for a few seconds.

Then, he burst into laughter and Johnny dropped the grimace.

“Oh my god, you looked so stressed and now you’re just making a joke!”

Taeil almost dropped his coke because he was laughing maybe a little too much, but the face, the build-up, the tone of Johnny’s voice, it had been comedic genius, as if he was dead serious about this and not announcing himself to be a _vampire_.

And in the cafeteria!

It took him a bit to calm down, but when he did, Johnny hit him with another one.

“Um, I wasn’t joking?”

Taeil burst into more giggles, reaching out to pat Johnny’s arm.

“Okay, okay. You’re really good at this!”

Johnny seemed a bit pained, but he laughed along.

“Apparently not.”

“Yes, yes, I’ve rarely laughed this much during lunch. Thanks. I like that you stuck to the theme, too, since I called you Edward before.”

Johnny nodded.

“Yeah. Totally. Theme.”

Taeil almost chipped in that the bite from the weekend also fit so well with this, but he just remembered that he was not going to tell anyone about that.

Least of all the hot and cute guy that was spending time with him.

“Hey, I’m curious, where did you get your Bachelor’s? And what’s your focus?”

Johnny took the last sip of coffee and hesitated before he started to explain that he had actually gotten it in The US and then transferred here because he wanted to see more of the world while he still had that degree of freedom.

It was interesting!

Taeil had never left his home country, but Johnny wasn’t stingy in sharing his experiences from travels.

Before he knew it, it was 2 pm and he had to race to his next class.

Only when he was staring at the guy in front of him, thinking about how yummy he looked, did he realise he hadn’t even touched his food.

So, now he was considering eating his classmates?

That seemed wrong, but okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, let me know what you think? ^^
> 
> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)  
> Twitter: @155Fox


	2. Chapter 2

When he came home, Taeyong was curled up on his bed.

That wasn’t all too unusual.

“Doyoungie sent me.”

“Aha.”

Taeyong looked up from his iPad.

“He’s worried. I told him he’s a hypocrite and we fought. I also brought up that he believes earth bending is the most powerful when it’s clearly water.”

“You’ve been discussing this for longer than I’ve known you,” Taeil pointed out because they had. Taeyong and Doyoung were childhood friends, they had a very adorable photo together, both aged four and in sailor collars. The argument was about as old, or maybe not quite, but close.

“Yeah, but he’s still not learnt. Anyway. Doyoung doesn’t know the Johnny you’re talking about so he suspects it’s a con artist or mass murderer or something similar, of course. He’s not trying to recruit you into an MLM and sell essential oils?”

For the second time today, Taeil burst into laughter, sinking to his knees as his muscles gave out.

“No. No, oh my god, no, we’re just, you know, flirting and stuff. Oh my god, my abs.”

“Tell me about the stuff?” Taeyong turned the screen off and let the pen attach to the side, then sat up in pretzel position. How did his legs even bend that way, that couldn’t be healthy…

“He’s actually from the US, I had no idea, but he grew up bilingually, so he doesn’t have an accent. He and his family did a lot of travelling, he told me about it. I’m a bit jealous, but also really impressed. He’s funny, a little dorky. Not as aloof as he seems from waltzing down the hallways. And handsome. And tall. And buff. Seriously, his arms, the sleeves could hardly contain them, I was thirsting more than I’d admit to anyone that’s not you.”

Taeyong nodded solemnly, eyes a bit blank.

“He doesn’t sound like a danger to society.”

“No, I mean, I did have some heart racing and goosebumps, but you want those, right?”

“So I was told. Do you think he’ll bottom, though?”

Taeil snorted.

“That’s not what you discuss on the first day. It’s also not that important.”

Taeyong looked doubtful.

“Okay, it’s a bit important, but I think we can make that work if we end up clicking.”

“I just don’t want any tears,” Taeyong gently explained, rubbing over his arm.

“I know. Sometimes you can’t avoid them, though.”

“That’s the part where you always lose me.”

“That’s okay. Thanks for still being supportive.”

“Of course. Have you not slept last night? You look really worn out.”

Taeyong had scooted even closer and moved his fingers to trace the dark circles now.

He smelt good. Delicious.

“It was a weird night, but I feel okay. You don’t have to worry.”

“Okay. Still. I hope you’ll sleep better tonight then. Go to bed early? Have you eaten?”

Taeil wondered why Taeyong still smelt yummy.

“Not yet, but I bought myself some stuff, so I’ll eat now.”

“Alright, I’ll go home then. See you tomorrow?”

“Lunch?”

“Mhm.”

Unfortunately, Taeil slept even worse than he had the night before.

First, he hadn’t grown tired how he usually would. He had surfed Twitter for far too long and then dozed off during episode 3 of The Witcher on Netflix.

Naturally, he had woken back up because the show was loud and dramatic, but even after he had turned everything off and it had been 4 am already, sleep had not come. Rather than being uncomfortable and thus waking back up, it was like he didn’t even go to sleep properly.

It was very annoying, but the weirdest part was where he wasn’t tired when his alarm rang.

So that was something?

“Taeil! Your eyes!”

“My ears, Jungwoo, hell!”

Taeil held his ears shut, head pulsing in pain for a couple of seconds.

Jungwoo was staring at him as if count Dracula himself had emerged from Taeil’s room.

“Are you okay? Maybe your bite got infected and is causing this? I think you need to see a doctor!” Jungwoo fussed. Their heart was thundering and they smelt super-good.

“I doubt it, it healed really well.” Taeil shrugged and made a bee-line for the bathroom, Jungwoo hot on his heels.

Taeil also screamed when he saw his reflection. His ears hurt again, but he was too shocked to even care about some minor eardrum trauma or whatever.

“What the fuck? _What the fuck?_ ”

His eyes were bloodshot – which in itself wasn’t that worrying nor would anyone really bat an eyelash.

If it was to a normal extent.

 _This_ was NOT a normal extent.

There was no white left, it was all just blood red.

“I’m sure that’s not okay! I think you need to get that checked out! What if it could affect your vision?”

Taeil rubbed his eyes, then looked again.

And it was gone.

Even his dark circles. Gone.

He looked rested. Relaxed. His skin was clear, which is almost never was despite salicylic acid. He most certainly did not look like he had not slept properly for two nights. But his eyes… had they always been this dark? Taeil felt like he should remember what colour his eyes had, but he also didn’t think that just changed overnight.

“What… how…?”

Apparently, Jungwoo had also noticed his instant-makeover. 

“Guess it wasn’t that bad.”

“Taeil! It was that bad, holy shit, what is going on? Wait! Demon! You must be possessed by a demon! Oh no, I feared this would happen, but don’t worry, Ten knows his way around these things!”

Taeil would rather not let Ten get his hands on him, especially not when Ten was under the impression he needed exorcising.

“I’m sure it’s fine.”

“That’s what I’d say as a demon possessing a human body… wait! Are you even Taeil?”

Taeil still felt very much like Taeil, just absurdly well-rested and still imagining things such as hearing Jungwoo’s heart continue to hammer like there was no tomorrow.

“I’m fine, Jungwoo. I appreciate your worry, but there’s no reason, nothing’s wrong.”

Jungwoo narrowed their eyes.

“When’s your birthday?”

“14th July 1994.”

“Family name!”

“Moon? That’s easy, Jungwoo, anyone would know that.”

“What’s my favourite colour of nail polish?” 

“Depends. Wire-less is more or smokin hot, or none at all.”

“Fine. Ha! What was the food that most recently moulded in our fridge?”

Taeil frowned.

“I’m sorry about the donkatsu, I really forgot it was there!”

Jungwoo wrinkled their nose.

“Okay, maybe not possessed.”

“I think it was just something that looked wrong but wasn’t really and we imagined it. I have classes and still need to get dressed.”

“Mm,” Jungwoo didn’t look convinced, but Taeil slipped away because he hadn’t been lying.

And he was also deeply unsettled. The less he thought about whatever… that… had been, the better. It felt like he was lacking control over his own body and that never felt good.

Demonic possession seemed unlikely, though. Demons weren’t a thing.

An infection, on the other hand…

Ah, well, the bite was pretty much healed already, hardly a trace left.

Just within three days, that was impressive!

Taeil only realised he had forgotten his phone when he was bored during Algebra VII.

Why was he even bored? He was not supposed to be bored, he was supposed to be stressed and struggling.

Yet here he was.

It was a weird week.

Instead of checking Twitter, he drabbled odd patterns on the side of his note pad. Maybe today’s topic was a kind one. Taeil looked around. No one else seemed to feel like there was kindness being done to them.

Not like it really mattered. As long as he felt like he understood the concepts being taught, he was fine.

He considered what to eat for lunch. The bacon in the morning hadn’t been as satiating as yesterday, but other than more rare meat, nothing sounded exciting.

Rare meat was still not on the menu here and also generally not seen as edible, so that was not an option. He also definitely had gotten a weird sunburn on his way here, but with Doyoung, Kun, and Taeyong, there was no ditching lunch without immediately getting mothered from all sides.

He could make Jungwoo think he was fine, with those three it was usually a lot harder.

He peeled the skin off the back of his hand. It was concerning. It was February, who got a sunburn this bad in February?

Well, Moon Taeil, apparently.

If only his monthly budget would allow visiting the local steak house… get something rare… or just a nice cut of beef at the supermarket would do.

Maybe he’d save up.

“I was trying to contact you all morning! I was worried you had gotten kidnapped by your suspicious date!” Was the first thing Doyoung said when Taeil found him in the masses of people squeezing into the main cafeteria because of course it was.

“Nice to see you, too. I forgot my phone and my date isn’t suspicious, he’s just very hot and funny. Oh. Wait! Over there! That’s him over there!”

Taeil wasn’t sure how or why, but he’d recognise those shoulders anywhere. Outside, in the freezing cold, was Johnny.

“Where?”

“The tall one, come on, Doyoung!”

How hard could it be, there weren’t many people enjoying to freeze their balls off.

Doyoung squinted around the yard, then realisation flashed on his face.

“He’s not even that tall.”

“That’s all you have to say?”

“Well, I guess.”

Taeil turned back around to feast his eyes on Johnny’s glorious back-view some more. It was truly magnificent and Taeil said that as a man with a lot of confidence in his own back-side.

Suddenly, the person Johnny was talking to wrapped his arm around his shoulders and pulled him down.

Oh.

“Uh.”

Great.

“Are they kissing?”

“Stop staring, that’s rude! They’re probably just talking.”

So why did Taeil feel like someone had punched him in the gut?

Maybe he had misunderstood. Johnny probably hadn’t been flirting at all, just looking to make friends. He stupidly had jumped to conclusions.

How embarrassing.

“Let’s get food, where are the others?”

“Are you sure about this? Illie, wait!”

Taeil ate an entire bowl of stirfry rice just out of spite.

Not like Johnny would ever find out about this and even if, why should he bother? But in Taeil’s head, this made perfect sense at the moment.

Kun gave him hand cream because his hands ‘looked dry’.

Taeil had been about to explain the weird sunburn situation, but when he looked, it was gone and, indeed, his hands looked as dry as California in August.

Kinda weird, but okay. Sunburns in February generally seemed weird, so he might be desensitised already.

He felt very full yet still hungry, so he joined Taeyong in raiding the coffee shop’s pastry selection.

After that, he was _still_ hungry yet so full he could hardly move when he arrived at his final lecture of the day. Next week, he’d have to stay for tutorials every day – both the ones he attended and the ones he taught. The last week of relaxation.

And today truly was relaxing. It was deeply confusing, unsettling, but Taeil would not complain, he was committed to that.

If only he’d stop feeling hungry and stop considering which of his classmates looked the tastiest.

_You can’t eat unconsenting people, Taeil, that’s just rude._

He busied himself with a sketch of Snoopy for Jungwoo. What they should do with this, Taeil wasn’t sure, but he was determined to finish it for a dramatic gifting scene later even when the professor dismissed the class.

In an effort of finishing, Taeil kept drabbling while walking – looking every bit the part of the art student he wasn’t. Just a bit more shading…

Suddenly, he got a hunch and his head snapped up almost on its own.

He realised Johnny stood in his path just before he collided with his suspicious date that was possibly dating someone else.

Taeil stopped so abruptly, he lost balance and nearly dropped his notepad – was this also a theme? Well, the constant nausea was gone, he needed something new, right?

“Heyyy,” Johnny smiled, but he looked incredibly nervous, his lips twitching as he looked around the hallway.

Taeil glanced the same direction that Johnny seemed to have lingered, but there was nothing there but the men’s bathroom.

Maybe Johnny needed to go there, though. Who knew.

“So. Um. Are you angry with me or something?”

Taeil tore his attention from the toilets.

“Huh? No?”

A little bitter, sure, but it took a _lot_ more to get Taeil angry.

“Oh. Um, okay, why were you ignoring me?” Johnny blinked and despite his impressive height and muscle mass looked tiny and sad.

Fuck, why was he waltzing around campus kissing men other than Taeil, this was truly heartbreaking!

“I’m not, though?”

“Yeah, kinda. I sent you a lot of texts?”

Taeil had no self-control and reached out to pat Johnny’s cheek because he was just so… there? And looked like he really needed it?

“I forgot my phone, I’m not purposefully ignoring you. Sorry.”

Johnny stared back for a couple of seconds, then cleared his throat. Very lengthily.

“I see. I feel a bit dumb now. I thought everyone these days was glued to their phone? I sure am…”

Taeil laughed. He could be friends with Johnny, right? That seemed like a great deal. Sure, he had been busy nourishing this crush, but he could overcome it, probably. People did that all the time… probably.

“What did you want to tell me? I’m free for today.”

“You are? Oh, that’s actually perfect! Let me treat you to that coffee I owe you.” Johnny winked.

Wait.

“Aren’t you dating someone else?” Taeil burst out, sounding very bitter and jealous even though he was actually not even… okay, he was kinda pretty jealous.

Johnny looked deeply confused.

“Where did you hear that?”

Was that a no?

Ha!

Taeil had known they had just been talking!

“I heard it through the grapevine. Guess that was fake news then.” And had he kept his mouth closed, he would have spared himself this embarrassment, but at least it had secured Johnny’s eyes on him.

“There’s a person I’d like to be dating right in front of me,” Johnny smiled, which wasn’t an answer? But did that matter? No? Taeil felt his heartbeat pick up a notch.

Was it weird that he tried to listen in on Johnny’s? Maybe he was losing it, but he had been able to hear people’s hearts beating all day for days, so why not use this very odd skill?

Too bad now that he needed it, he didn’t hear a thing. Radio silence.

Disappointing.

“Is there?”

Once more, Taeil scored high with his charms, eloquence, and wit. Not.

At least Johnny seemed somewhat endeared. Like you were endeared by Golden Retriever that stumbled over its own paws to get to their beloved owner.

“Yep, but the last time this person didn’t really take me seriously and got me into serious trouble, so I will only ask if you promise to listen to me while on that date.”

Taeil scrambled for a great reply to Johnny’s handsome face and very kiss-able lips, but here he was.

“S-sure.”

10 out of 10.

What had he not listened to anyway? He’d listen to this velvety voice all day every day.

“I know a really nice place, it’s just south from campus. May I lead the way?”

So, yeah.

Moon Taeil let himself be gently guided through Neo City to some coffee shop just south of campus.

It was a really nice place, definitely. The barista must have had at least 1 litre of espresso, but he seemed to be living his best life, talking non-stop about their beans and drawing elaborate calligraphy onto their receipts while the water was heating up.

“Which radical do you use in your name?” The guy had asked.

Taeil hardly remembered his own name in Hanja, but now he watched a stranger write it more beautifully than he ever would.

He might have to keep the receipt. It looked like it was meant to be kept, all fancy and high-quality. This was a reasonable thought to have. Definitely. He only felt a _little_ envious and inadequate because he could not write like that.

He soothed himself by repeating the quadratic formula. Minus b plus or minus the square root of b to the power of two minus four times a times c divided by two times a.

See, he was smart and loveable.

The barista finished and Johnny suggested the table tucked away in the corner.

Taeil was completely indifferent, just wondering if he’d be behaving like a Duracell bunny in ten minutes, too, and whether 6 pm was an appropriate time to drink a latte macchiato.

He had once read it was a breakfast coffee, but barbarianism aside, there was a whole lot of caffeine in there and he had already not slept for two nights.

But Taeyong wasn’t here to be his self-control, so Taeil took a sip.

It was _perfect_.

The milk was frothed to perfection, creamy, complementing the nutty coffee perfectly, mixing into a harmony of sweet and bitter on his tongue.

Taeil had no idea where he was getting all of this from. It was just coffee? He was clearly losing it.

“Do you like it?” Johnny asked, breaking the comfortable silence and Taeil’s internal break-down.

Number 219480737 of today. Interruptions were welcome and encouraged.

“It’s amazing. I feel like I ascended ten levels in coffee snobbishness.”

Johnny laughed. His coffee was black. That also screamed no sleep for you, but whatever. They were all adults here and could make their own bad decisions.

“I enjoy being a coffee snob, which is why I’m so grateful to have found a like-minded soul in Jaemin. How was your day? Other than forgetting your phone?”

Very weird.

“Relaxing for the majority.” When he had not been sure he was losing all his marbles. Or considering to eat people. “Which is unusual, but it’s nice. How about you?”

Johnny grimaced, then shook his head.

“Fine, mainly. I told you I got in trouble. Rightfully so. I’m really sorry, Taeil, but I _need_ you to listen to me not only to get this date because I would have taken you anyway just probably, uh… it’s complicated.”

Taeil sipped more of his coffee while Johnny was apparently re-sorting his thoughts. He had only heard that Johnny would have taken him on a date in any scenario, so that was _very_ nice. Anything else made about zero sense and he was going to ignore it.

“I told you,” Johnny lowered his voice and then fixed Taeil in a stare.

Oh…

Oh, dear.

Taeil heard his heartbeat pick up just from being face to face with such intensity.

Johnny had very dark eyes, so dark, Taeil couldn’t even see the pupil, similarly how he had felt about his own eyes in the morning. Which he was also ignoring.

It was like Taeil got pulled into his orbit, unable to look away despite his neck prickling and heart thundering and begging for a break from attention.

He was an experienced date-goer, evidentially.

“I’m a vampire,” Johnny whispered. With the intense stare, it suddenly didn’t seem as hilarious as it had been last time anymore.

Also, who made the same joke twice?

Okay, bad question, but who made the same joke twice with the same person and knowingly so?

But vampires weren't real, so it had to be a joke. Taeil should be considering other explanations for what was happening. Something normal. Reasonable. Non-fantasy-book.

“You sure about that?” He asked because that was a fail-proof way to make Johnny speak the truth, of course.

“Yes, I am. Look at my eyes.”

Taeil had been doing nothing else for minutes.

However, now, Johnny’s eyes suddenly shifted.

They looked like Taeil’s had in the morning, bloodshot and somewhat dead – but just for a second, then his irises turned red, bloodred, piercing and completely unnatural as if the blood had collected in them, the white returning to its normal state.

Taeil wanted to jerk away, scream, maybe run, but he was frozen in place, unable to even open his mouth.

Fuck?

The same process happened again, now returning to black eyes.

What?

“Don’t scream, please. Let me explain,” Johnny whispered.

Taeil was not going to give such a promise.

“Please?” Johnny looked rather desperate now and Taeil felt bad, but also was he actually a vampire? That didn’t seem safe, Taeil was not going to date anyone who could easily make him dinner. He was all for eating people, but he preferred to live another day after.

And he preferred topping anyway.

“Okay, I’ll have to keep you fixed then. Sorry.”

Taeil wanted to ask if he was hearing correctly and Johnny was the one doing this to him and how dare he?

Too bad he was ‘fixed’.

“You were out to party on Saturday, with Mark Lee and a group of people. At Simon’s.”

Had Johnny stalked him? Taeil narrowed his eyes.

“I was told by Irene.”

Ah, okay.

“Um.” Johnny cleared his throat, looking sheepish, then he looked away, apparently confused about what to say next, and Taeil could suddenly move again.

“What do you mean don’t scream and fix me?” He hissed. What he should be doing was running, fast and far, but the need to know was more important than the fear of a sudden end through blood-loss in the coffee shop.

Johnny must have realised his mistake and stared at Taeil in horror.

Huh, so the eye-contact was essential for fixation?

Taeil immediately focussed on Johnny’s lips.

Bad idea.

“This isn’t something I tell people! I wouldn’t have told you if it wasn’t important, how else do you think we survive? Certainly not by outing ourselves publicly!” Johnny whispered, stressed.

Taeil felt bad. Yeah, it didn’t seem like a great thing to share if there was a profit to be made from you being, if his vampire knowledge was correct, immortal.

“I swear, I didn’t read your mind other than to get my replies.”

“You can read my mind?” Taeil was whisper-screaming now, but he didn’t see himself at fault here.

What the fuck?

“You read that I top?”

“No! Yes! Oh my god, please, let me explain!”

Taeil groaned and buried his face in his hands. He was only still here because he could practically feel Johnny’s distress, his eyes had looked like his own, and he had been considering to eat his friends. Running felt hypocritical in lights of all that.

A very unbidden moment of epiphany hit Taeil.

Oh.

Oh no.

Oh fuck n o.

“I’m turning into a vampire?” He groaned into his hands.

It made sense.

 _Unfortunately_.

Taeil would love to scream, run away, and declare Johnny insane, but it was quite impossible with this proof presenting itself. Also unreasonable. There was a suddenly very real risk of eating Jungwoo without meaning to. They didn’t deserve that.

“Um… yeah,” Johnny confirmed, sounding so deeply understanding that Taeil was able to keep it together despite feeling like keeping it together wasn’t required when one was turned into a _vampire_.

The bite wound suddenly made a whole lot more sense.

The sunburn.

The lack of sleep.

The blood-thirst.

“I’m really sorry, Taeil! I can’t even tell you how and why you were turned, I just realised something was up and after asking around, it turned out no one was responsible or going to help you. That’s never a good idea, we don’t want that, so, um, well, I’d like to help you.”

“Kay.” Taeil was still hiding behind his hands. “How did this even happen? How is one turned? Am I going to accidentally either murder or kill my roommate? Or best friend?”

“It… could happen.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m sorry.”

Silence stretched over the table. 

Taeil decided to just ignore all the impending issues like a mature adult would who first found out that he had gotten turned into some typically hot immortal creature with clear skin and freaky eyes and would now be a vampire-in-training under the handsome buff guy from tutor training.

“You’re evading my question.” He looked up.

Johnny shrugged uncomfortably.

“I’m not sure what to answer because I might be offending someone here.”

Taeil frowned, puffing his cheeks.

“Okay, okay, I’ll offend them. They deserve no mercy anyway.”

“I can't believe that is all it takes to change your mind?” Taeil felt himself grow a little warm, but he couldn’t deny he loved the attention Johnny was giving him.

Even though there might be more important topics since his life was allegedly about to drastically change.

The whole extent of that hadn’t hit yet.

“Only on special occasions and with special people,” Johnny added as if Taeil needed any more flattering to sooner combust.

Taeil was not going to further think about who else were special people and just claim the title for himself because why not? Who would not want to be a special person to the hot and buff guy that had previously stated he would take him on a date under any circumstances?

“So.” Hot or not, he needed some answers here. “What happened at Simon’s?”

Johnny nibbled on his lower lip. It was a very plush and beautiful lower lip that looked extremely kiss-able.

“How much do you remember?”

Taeil thought back to Saturday night. Admittedly, it was quite a blur similarly to how it went in that one Katy Perry song. He definitely remembered having done shots with Mark and that girl he was roommates with. Yeri? He remembered she had been very witty and a joy to be around but also held her alcohol much better than he or Mark.

Which wasn’t a feat per se…

That was where things had obviously gone south _very_ quickly because, as previously mentioned, the second he started to drink, he already lost count despite knowing better.

He remembered hitting the dance floor which only happened once he had reached an unreasonable level of intoxication because Taeil and the dance floor were not friends and only alcohol could soothe that battered relationship.

And quite shortly after that his memories just ripped off.

Which was not good.

Obviously.

But he had already suffered the consequences so he was not willing to drag himself down for it yet again.

“I don’t remember any vampires or anyone who might be. Unless Mark is, oh my god…” Taeil stared at Johnny in utter shock.

“No. No, he isn’t.”

“Good. Or not good.”

“Not remembering isn’t by any means out of the norm or even concerning in these circumstances. The brain is restarted if you get turned, so it's expected that there will be some minor collateral damage as in the memories closest to the trigger are going to be deleted forever.”

The way Johnny said it was probably meant to be soothing or calming or anything else nice, however, it had the opposite effect.

Being told that his memories would be deleted forever was possibly the most upsetting thing all day. Even though Taeil had never remembered in the first place, now he knew that he was missing a very significant event that had led to this entire situation he found himself in right now and possibly until forever, wasn't that how immortality worked?

He had most definitely _not_ signed up for this and he was unsure how to cope.

“Generally, we don’t drink from the source. It’s risky for the human involved, there’s such a thing as diseases that can fuck us up, too, it’s noticeable and just not ethical.”

Taeil hummed. What about all the sexy vampires, though? His brain hurt. It should have hurt in class earlier, but no, blood-drinking was what would get him today.

A fucked up day.

“So that’s why I am judging. I assume you were pretty much an accident, which is another reason why it’s frowned upon. Turning someone by accident is distasteful if not cruel. The very least I can do is try to guide you, explain things so you don’t have to murder your roomie.”

Taeil nodded, feeling quite nauseous – wow, he hadn’t felt that in at least 24 hours, he had _not_ missed it.

“Again, I’m sorry on their behalf.”

“But how can you accidentally turn someone?” Taeil asked because he wanted to know. It was such a massive change, he at least wanted to understand the technicalities of it.

“Well… if you kill your donor. Drinking that much blood is quite excessive, but if you’re hungry, it can happen. Poor anatomy skills add another set of difficulties. Especially when you bite the neck. It’s a fast fix, but it’s also stupid because of how dangerous it is.”

“So… basically I should be dead.”

Johnny reached out and patted his shoulder. It was somewhat comforting. Taeil wasn’t even sure what to blame him getting almost killed on – the alcohol? His lonely and trusting ass?

“Again, I’m sorry even if that doesn’t make it better. If we figure out who it was, this will have consequences because it’s absolutely despicable. You didn’t do anything wrong, you just became his victim.”

Taeil nodded. Yeah, probably. Alcohol shouldn’t excuse fucking murder, should it?

“Why am I not dead, then?”

“I assume they noticed. Turning is less suspicious than a corpse with a bite. If they managed to feed you their blood right before you actually passed, it triggers the transformation – so you’re still here, which is great. I wished you had never gotten involved in any of this, but at least it ended like this!”

“Yeah.”

Surprisingly, Taeil felt better now.

It might crash later when he would realise this was actually real.

If it was.

“So? What will happen to me? And my roomie?”

“You’re currently turning, it takes about three days, so you’re still fine right now.”

“Other than feeling like eating my classmates…”

Johnny hesitated.

“Right, yeah, but you didn’t do that, right?”

Taeil snorted.

“No? Who does shit like that?”

“I didn’t think you would. But it will get stronger as you complete the turn and then inevitably become hungry. Which is why I have to do my job in mentoring you.”

“Oh, right.”

“I might have to warn you, I’ve never done this and I’m still quite young myself. If I’m unsure, I’ll ask my mentor, though. He’s ancient.”

“You’re mentoring me while you’re still in training yourself?” Taeil raised an eyebrow.

“It’s like you teaching a class of 2nd years, I have plenty to teach you.” Johnny huffed.

“Alright, I guess I’ll see about that then.”

“You _will_ see,” Johnny narrowed his eyes and Taeil leaned back even though he would have loved to take the bait.

He was still very much interested in dating Johnny even though he was apparently closer to Edward than expected.

“Fine. So. What else am I looking forward to?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)


	3. Chapter 3

A lot, apparently.

He had _not_ gone mad over the last days, his senses _were_ sharpening and would even more until tomorrow.

He’d develop the fixing and mind-reading stuff, though Johnny said it was a bit difficult to get a hang of. Not surprising, but also not that huge a loss. Taeil wasn’t sure where to apply it in the distant future once he got there because he had no stress with Jungwoo that might require fixing them and the only person he often wished would shut up was Doyoung, but he also had zero desire to know what was going on in his head, on the contrary, he’d pay money to stay oblivious.

Chances were it’d irreparably damage his image of his friend.

Then there would be the hunger for blood, a joy. Fortunately, there were unsuspicious replacements for chomping down on humans that modern technology had blessed the vampire population with in the form of blood pills. Taeil was not going to have to rob a blood bank like Stefan Salvatore, nor hunt in the woods like Bella Swan, nor break the bank by buying raw steak every day, and instead be sophisticated and elegant like the night class from Vampire Knight.

They came in eight flavours and Taeil was too excited to figure his favourite out for it to be healthy, but whatever. At least no more raw bacon.

Then there were his eyes and the blood-shot situation going on. That was apparently here to stay, but he was supposed to control it as easily as blinking which was why he had gotten it under control in the morning.

Johnny had not elaborated _how_ exactly he was supposed to control it, but Taeil had also forgotten to ask and in between all the new stuff, he’d cut Johnny some slack and only deduce 5 points on the mentoring-skill-scale.

Oh, also, his heart was supposed to stop beating.

“And the sunburns?”

“SPF 100, reapply every two hours, or covering up, but you need UV safe clothes. Since you stop feeling temperature the same way humans do, you can get away with layering. I’ll send you some links about where to shop.”

So, no fancy magical ring. Very disappointing.

“Is there anything else to know about? Am I part of an insider circle now?” A spark of excitement had taken over as Johnny had explained himself. It probably had to do with the blood pills reminding him of Vampire Knight and his old crush on Akatsuki Kain. _What if there was a Night Class?_

Okay, there most likely wasn’t and all of this was only so exhilarating because Taeil had snapped for good and he knew, but, again, no Taeyong was around to stop him, so he’d just carry on with his madness, thank you.

“In a way, yeah. There are more of us, of course, but we’re hiding and blending in as much as possible for safety and survival. This is capitalism, after all, and turning won’t guarantee you some fancy mansion and gold or anything.”

“Disappointing. No balls? Excessive partying? Baroque clothes?”

Johnny was trying to hold his laughter, looking unsure whether Taeil meant it, so Taeil left him to figure it out. It was a funny image to see him puff his cheeks and mouth twitching.

“I’m afraid it’s nine to five for many of us.”

“And you? I don’t see you working to the bone to afford a Seoul flat?”

Johnny shrugged.

“I saved up when I got bored by the last job I was in before moving here. You can’t work for the same company for more than maybe 10 years anyway.”

“That sounds unbelievably boring and normal.”

“I guess it kinda is? We don’t have any battles with werewolves or witches, the former don’t even exist and the latter are usually on our side or neutral at worst. You don’t mess with witches, you just don’t.”

Taeil nodded as if he knew anything about witches. He hadn't even watched the Harry Potter movies – was this a gap in his education or as realistic as Twilight?

Wait.

“I won’t sparkle, will I?”

Johnny had just taken a sip of coffee, which he promptly spat over the table. He was coughing and Taeil hurriedly reached across to pat his back. He probably wouldn’t choke to death, would he? He’d need some more details about immortality and its Archillis heels here.

Choking sounded like the lamest way to pass from immortality. That wasn’t a thing, was it? He’d definitely have to ask when Johnny was no longer at immediate risk.

In the meanwhile, he patted the very broad and muscular back of his crush, which was truly the opposite of a problem and Taeil would keep doing this all day if necessary (or if there was any other way to get away with it).

Johnny sadly and luckily recovered and took a deep breath.

“You won’t. That would be… a lot.”

“Just asking. It’d be very inconvenient to be surprised by something like that.”

Johnny made more choking noises.

Just in case, Taeil places his hand on his back again.

It was hard as steel.

However, as he wasn’t actively slapping, Taeil realised there was something missing: a heartbeat.

Johnny had explained his heart didn’t beat anymore, which explained why Taeil hadn’t heard the inviting sound of blood being pumped when he had listened for it earlier, but feeling it was still something else.

It made it even more real and Taeil felt upset again.

“I know it’s a lot. I’m sorry I hit you with everything like this,” Johnny softly said, ripping Taeil from mental breakdown #219480738. “Thanks for listening.”

Taeil nodded. His hand was still on Johnny’s back, but now he didn’t want to let go because he needed the touch to ground himself.

Johnny didn’t mention it.

“I’ll give you tablets to cope with hunger. You’ll complete the turn tomorrow, so you’ll need them. You should over-eat because handling hunger is not easy and not the first thing I want you to train, so take one for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight, okay? Do you have a way to hide this from your roommate?”

Taeil nodded.

He, in fact, did not, but he’d wing it.

“May I bring you home?”

Taeil nodded again and Johnny got up, collecting their cups to return to the personified Redbull drink, Jaemin.

They didn’t talk anymore as they headed back onto campus.

Taeil didn’t know what to say. After chilling all morning, his brain was now overloaded with information.

He let his hand brush against Johnny’s a few times until Johnny got the hint and took it. He was careful like he expected to have misunderstood, but when Taeil turned so he could interlace their fingers, he grew bolder. Johnny had surprisingly soft hands.

Taeil didn’t sleep – again.

Apparently, he’d have to get used to it anyway, so he spent the night watching YouTube and preparing the tutorial for next week.

By around 4 am, his heart suddenly started picking up speed in his chest and cold sweat ran down his back.

It felt like that one anxiety attack he had had a few years ago, but without the anxiety.

Taeil took deep breaths and massaged his hands. This was probably part of the turn. Johnny could have maybe warned him, but who knew if this was a universal experience. Taeil didn’t blame him and just kept breathing evenly as his heart hammered away.

It was going to stop soon, wasn’t it?

Taeil stared at the blue halo his computer screen cast on the wall.

How strange, to be… dead.

He wiped a tear off his cheek.

No, he hadn’t asked for this. He probably wouldn’t have. He had no fear of growing old, it was just normal to become old and then die one day, maybe with loved ones to remember him.

Death was probably still possible, immortality always had hooks – he hadn’t asked yet, though.

But he’d never grow old with a spouse and maybe children or pets. He hadn’t thought about retirement yet, but he had never doubted that was what would come, down the line.

He soothed himself by remembering he’d now have clear skin forever and that he was 25 already and thus his brain had fully developed before this, so he assumed he was well-equipped to handle it.

As well as anyone could ever be.

His pulse slowed down, back to a normal tempo, then slower, slower, until Taeil held his breath, waiting for the next one to come and not miss it.

Until he waited in vain.

So.

This was it then?

He laid his hand against his chest.

Nothing.

Yet he felt fine. Pretty good even.

Sighing, he let himself slump onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. It was much more defined than it usually would be, but that would be his new senses working hard.

So, a vampire, huh?

And, other than red eyes, what was a popular belief that vampires had?

Taeil stared at his reflection in the microwave, then dragged his tongue over the entire length of his canine tooth on the left again, feeling the sharp tip.

Fangs.

He had fangs, but he had not had them when he had woken up so they didn’t seem permanent and Johnny also didn’t have them, but also he had no idea where they had come from and how to make them return. Those weren’t some cute canines to pass off as a joke of nature, those were some _fangs_.

Taeil honestly thought he looked hot as fuck, but _why had Johnny not warned him??_

“Are you late for Halloween?”

With a squeak, he jerked around.

How had he forgotten and then not even heard Jungwoo? They weren’t even remotely quiet, Taeil now had super-hearing, yet he had gotten _so_ lost in being impressed by his reflection he had not heard them?

Embarrassing.

“Ummm.”

“Oooooh, is it for roleplay?” Jungwoo’s eyes widened and Taeil was faced with the decision: out himself as a vampire only to possibly be exorcised (and/or staked) by Ten _or_ admit to having intense kinks he didn’t actually have.

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t have told anyone even if we didn’t have the NDA! I totally respect this, kink-shaming is so 2012.”

Right.

Taeil laughed nervously.

“They look really convincing, too, wow, I would have been fooled thinking you actually had turned into a vampire. Do you want tea?”

“Thanks. I’ll grab some coffee on my way, I have a stochastics class in… 10 minutes, FUCK!”

 _And_ he still had his fangs out even though it had been half an hour since he had drunk those tablets, dissolved in coke for appearances and because caffeine no longer had any power over him – nor tooth rot.

Taeil grabbed his bag, pulled on his jacket and shoes and was off, dialling Johnny’s number as he went.

It took him two tries and he was already 1/3 to his lesson until he finally reached Johnny.

“ _Yes, hi?”_ He sounded out of breath and Taeil wondered if he had just worked out. Taeil knew from his own experience that muscles of steel were high-maintenance.

“Johnny! I have fangs! **Fangs**!”

_“Mm oh.”_

“Not oh! How do they go away! I have stochastics!”

_“Uuuuuh.”_

Taeil eyed the girl that just hurried past him. Damn, had she heard? He was doing a miserable job at keeping this secret an actual secret. But he hadn’t even been a vampire for 12 hours, so maybe it was a lack of practice.

“Johnny!” Taeil didn’t usually hiss at hot guys that were still kinda maybe dating him and also his vampire mentors, but love seemed very irrelevant in light of **fangs**.

_“I’m thinking! I don’t know how to explain it just like the eyes! You have to focus!”_

“That’s not helping at _all_!”

Taeil focussed. On his panic. Yes, this was a very useless tip.

_“Okay, give me a second.”_

He heard frantic knocking and then muttering.

_“Hey!”_

Taeil nearly dropped his phone when an entirely different voice suddenly chirped into his ear.

_“Hi, good morning, nice to meet you, though not in person, I’m Haechan or Donghyuck.”_

“Hi?”

_“Yes, you need to get rid of your fangs?”_

“Please!” Taeil had no idea who he was talking to, but he assumed – hoped, really – that it was another vampire, maybe someone with better explanation skills than Johnny.

 _“Okay, it’s really all about focus._ ” Thanks, that had helped so much thus far. “ _So focus on what I say and imagine it.”_

Five minutes later, Taeil was fang-less and at the lecture hall, thanking Haechan in a hurry, still actually unsure who the man (boy?) was who had helped him by explaining exactly how he had to imagine himself so the fangs would turn back into normal human-looking canine teeth.

Stochastics was a hell of a class for Taeil, so he was prepared to suffer.

However, just like yesterday, he found himself relaxing 15 minutes into the professor explaining new material.

He pulled his phone out, opening kakao and finding Johnny’s contact. He spent an appropriate amount of time staring and enjoying Johnny’s profile picture. What a beautiful man…

When he was done thirsting, he opened the chat.

<Hey. Thanks for earlier.>

_< Sure thing. Sorry 4 forgetting that would be an issue. Eyes are fine tho?”>_

<Hope so. Who is Haechan?>

_< Oh, he’s my mentor, we share the flat.>_

Taeil hummed and looked up, hurriedly catching up on what had happened. This should truly put him into a panic because he had to scribble down half a black-board of new numbers, but he wasn’t confused, a very very _very_ strange experience. 

<He’s good. Is it too late to apply to have him as my mentor? ;)>

_< Yes! I won’t give you up quite this easily!>_

Taeil giggled like some dork.

<So? Will we have a training session soon then?>

_< Absolutely. Are you free for dinner?>_

Taeil was still grinning when he found Taeyong for lunch.

“Did something good happen?”

Taeil nodded, still grinning.

“And what?” Taeyong pushed his face into Taeil’s line of vision.

“I have another date today!”

“Oh. Nice. Yay. With the suspicious average-height guy?”

“He’s not suspicious and he’s above 1.80, unlike Kim Dongyoung.”

Taeyong hummed, eyes growing empty. This was why Taeyong was no help in this regard at all.

Taeil snapped his fingers and Taeyong returned from art land.

“Yes, oh, sorry. I was invited by Seulgi for Saturday. Are you going to come?”

“For what?”

They had found a place in the queue and Taeil was staring at the menu. He hadn’t asked Johnny if he could eat this and Taeyong was a perpetual text-co-reader. Maybe he’d get the soup…

“Just drinks and karaoke with a few people. I’m not sure who she invited.”

What if he choked on the soup? That was not how he wanted to pass from this plane…

“I just had a really bad hangover this week.”

Taeyong nodded, not understanding. The thing was, Taeyong was a lightweight, even worse than Taeil, which was quite a feat, but he never got hangovers. It was truly fascinating, but it also meant he didn’t understand where Taeil was coming from.

“Why are we even ruining our brains with alcohol in the first place?”

“Because it’s fun if you don’t drink too much. You need to count so you don’t miss your limit, Illie!”

“I’ll come but not drink.”

“Okay! Yay! You’re the best at Karaoke, it’ll be so great, will you let me choose for you again?” Taeyong beamed.

Taeil nodded. Karaoke with a slightly drunk Taeyong was actually among the best experiences there were. Daytime Taeyong was incredibly sweet, cute, a little air-headed sometimes.

Nighttime Taeyong was a beast, someone dark, handsome, mesmerising, oozing charisma.

Taeil had no idea how that worked, but it was fun and both Taeyong-versions were a loyal friend to have. Nevermind Taeyong was an amazing rapper.

“We should do Airplanes again!” Taeyong was already planning the playlist and the lady behind the counter asking which menu he wanted suddenly thrust Taeil back into reality.

The bloody one, thank you, I’d also take one of my classmates to-go.

Taeil would have to lock himself into some bathroom after this and munch down the blood replacement he had brought. Johnny had made it abundantly clear that he had to over-eat the first weeks, maybe months, depending, or he would risk turning Kim Minji from row 2 into a Capri sun and Taeil could see why he had said that.

Since Taeil already expected the fang situation to return and he could **not** deal with fangs plus his three mum-friends if he wanted to go even 24 hours undetected as a vampire, it had to be in the privacy of the bathroom later, sadly.

He ordered menu 4, the noodle soup with seaweed and kimchi.

Taeyong had an internal friend-radar and Taeil blindly followed him, straight to the table on which Doyoung and Kun were sitting – as well as a stranger. A handsome stranger, but Taeil preferred his men a little rougher around the edges, visually. Internally, he wanted them soft and sweet.

Doyoung was visibly nervous and Taeil would have loved to be a nice friend, but Doyoung had talked badly about Johnny and Taeil wasn’t that kind a person.

“Ooooh, hey, are you…? Sorry, it’s so hard keeping up with ever-changing guys, did Doyoung bring you before?” Taeil beamed at the guy while settling down. The soup smelt like the most disgusting thing anyone had ever made. It was a bit sad, the cafeteria had pretty decent Kimchi, but this was his super-senses’ weak point. There was always a weak point, which reminded him to ask Johnny another ten billion questions.

A kick was delivered to his shin and he flinched but kept in a yelp of pain.

“I’m Jay, hi, I wasn’t here before, I don’t think you’d forget my face,” the stranger, Jay, yes, interesting, so the guy Doyoung had hooked up and proceeded to develop heart-eyes for this weekend, smirked.

“Are you sure Doyoung doesn’t pick them extraordinarily handsome? I mean, look at us.” Taeil grinned back, then felt another kick. Doyoung was really doing his all to prove he was the youngest on the table by throwing a tantrum – though who even knew Jay’s age? He might be even younger.

Jay laughed and nudged Doyoung, who looked like a solution sitting at ph 2 and Taeil smiled winningly.

“I guess I’ll count myself lucky to have been chosen then.”

“Before someone gets murdered, I’d like to offer this pickled radish.” Kun cut in. Taeil felt quite confident that Doyoung couldn’t harm him – since he was a vampire now and stuff. But, again, there were still a lot of questions, so he wasn’t going to test that hypothesis here and now.

“It fits Doyoung’s expression, he should have it,” Taeyong chirped and Jay laughed some louder while Doyoung went from ph 2 to 1. Impressive.

Taeil picked his spoon up and stirred the soup once. He’d really rather not…

Wait, what if this was actually poisonous to him now?

He fumbled his phone out. Johnny had been pushed down his chat-list because of the over-active group chats.

<Hey, so, can I eat stuff?>

<Like Kimchi?>

<It’s urgent, plssss>

_< Yes, the 24 hour vampire support is processing your urgent request as fast as possible ;)>_

_< You can eat whatever if you can stomach it. Remember pills!!>_

<Yes, after lunch or the fangs will be difficult to explain! Thank you!!>

_< Good! Yes, don’t fang in public, only between consenting adults.>_

<I don’t like the innuendo.>

_< You realise biting is a metaphor in old novels ;)>_

“Who are you texting?”

“No one.”

Panicked, Taeil turned the screen off. Taeyong had hawk eyes and the 24-hour mark of going undetected was really not even that impressive yet it already seemed unrealistic. Why was Taeil surrounded by spies and how should he keep his new-found vampirism a secret from them…?

Maybe he should also ask about the punishment for blowing his cover. That sounded like a question he definitely needed answered before it happened.

If it happ…

Nah. _When_ it happened. Taeil had to be a bit realistic here.

Taeil felt like the bullied lead in a high school coming of age movie that had to eat on the toilet, all alone, when he downed his second lunch before afternoon classes.

He then was late by 20 minutes because it had taken him forever to will the fangs away. It was incredibly inconvenient.

By the time he finished his schoolwork for the day, he was eying necks again.

No wonder Johnny had told him to eat every 6 hours!

However, rather than peacefully having his dinner in secret (so, in the restroom again) and then finding his date to have a magnificent evening, Taeil found a mysterious trio waiting outside the seminary room. Not just that, no, one of them was none other than _Ten_.

They were probably not here for him, he’d just slip away real fast…

“Oh, Taeil!”

Fuck, that had not worked at all.

He turned, faking a smile when he was really just terrified because Ten had always given him these… _vibes_.

Mass murderer vibes.

“Hey, long time no see!” Ten beamed and the earrings on both his ears sparkled in the LED lights.

“Yeah. Truly.”

“Hey, do you happen to have a moment? We heard something and wanted to reconfirm.”

Taeil eyed the other two. He didn’t remember if he had ever seen these people before in his life. They matched Ten’s style, both also wore excessive jewellery and dark clothes. One was a woman with an elfish face and platinum hair, the other a guy with a confusing mixture of a cute and stern face.

Also, probably like 14.

Despite their clothes, they all seemed friendly and sweet from their expression, but they also had this mass-murderer vibe.

Strictly speaking, Ten was nice, too, when he wasn’t revealing how he knew personal details and insider information about everyone in greater depth than the NSA ever would. Or making these bone-chillingly accurate future predictions. Or bending in ways most humans couldn’t without tearing a tendon.

He was too unpredictable for Taeil to be comfortable with and he assumed the same went for his two companions.

He had not yet asked Johnny about all the Archillis’ heels of immortality, he was **not** prepared for this.

“I actually have a date to go to. So.”

Ten nodded and Taeil took the first step away, to freedom, to living another day and not becoming the victim to the mystery mass murderers.

“Well, if you’re not willing to come, we’ll have to make you. Maybe just tell your date you’ll be late.”

Yikes.

“Right.”

“Don’t worry, we don’t mean to murder _you_!” The woman reassured him, but it wasn’t reassuring when she said it like that.

“Great.”

“This way.”

So, Taeil texted Johnny that he had run into Ten, a friend, and he needed something very urgently and he’d be a bit late.

He considered adding a heart, but it felt too early. Maybe after this date, he could add the heart.

If he wasn’t murdered, that was. Oh shit, he definitely couldn’t let Ten know about any of the vampirism.

It was way too cold to be outside, but the guy Taeil didn’t know the name of sat down on a bench half-way between the main building and the science building as if it wasn’t a winter evening and he’d not freeze his balls off.

Taeil had already felt (or rather not felt) the effects of vampirism that Johnny had alluded to, but he was still quite perceptive of the cold. At least he didn’t have to worry about UV-rays at this time – though, didn’t the moon technically reflect the sun and…

No. He was not going to think about this logically or he’d never stop with how many plot-holes there were in the concept of vampires.

“Sit down,” the strange dude patted the bench and Taeil stiffly settled.

“Hey, Taeyeon told you we’re not planning to murder you,” Ten laughed and flopped down next to the still un-named guy – assuming that Taeyeon was the woman who had, indeed, suggested that not _Taeil_ would be murdered.

“It was brought to our attention that someone turned you without consent.” Taeyeon chimed in, settling on Taeil’s other side. He was surrounded, outnumbered, and even if he hadn’t been he was sure any of them would have him for breakfast. And they also knew about the vampire-situation, so at least Taeil could stop worrying about one thing.

Seeing how bad his record was thus far, it was a big relief.

Or maybe he should worry more because _how did they know_?

“Actually, it was reported,” Ten corrected.

“Reported?” Taeil softly asked.

Why was no one cold, they weren’t even dressed very warmly? He hugged himself.

“Yes, you see, in this big jungle that we call society, we need some people checking the rules. The rules say not to harm humans,” Ten explained.

“Turning isn’t forbidden, but without consent, we view it as unethical. You can’t report it to the police, so we take care of that.” Taeyeon smiled.

So the _vibe_ hadn’t been far off, had it?

Admittedly, Taeil was still overwhelmed by his sudden found immortality and if he sat down to think about it, he grew upset about this just being thrown at him again.

“But you’re not really going to, I mean, un-alive whoever it was?”

“Un-alive,” the guy without a name cackled.

“Yangyang, please be professional,” Ten scolded and the guy tried to calm down – unsuccessfully. Yeah, puberty did that to you.

Taeil was really cold now, though the prospect of having to tell on someone to be taken to murderous justice definitely contributed.

“Hey, we’re not some cruel dictators. Do you want a warmth spell?” Taeyeon offered.

“A what?” Taeil blankly stared at her, feeling like Taeyong must when he was faced with other people’s romance issues.

“Oh, did no one tell you yet?” Ten looked surprised. Taeil wished he was in on the joke.

“A spell as in magic. We’re witches,” Taeyeon chirped. “We’re the coven responsible for the North of the city.”

Taeil nodded slowly.

“Johnny mentioned witches.”

He would be more sceptical, but, honestly, this was the most suitable explanation for everything Ten had ever said and done even before Taeil had become an exclusive member of the supernatural world. Except for the flexibility.

He’d just roll with it!

“We keep the forces in balance.” Yangyang, the unprofessional, added.

“Okay.”

“Can you retell us what happened the night you were bitten?”

Taeil cleared his throat.

“It would appear I have some big gaps in my memory.” Not only, but partially related to shots with Mark and Yerim.

“Normal. We don’t have mind-reading-abilities, so you’ll still have to tell us everything before and after. We need any hint we can get to figure out who is responsible for turning you so they can face consequences.”

“Well, they have satin bedsheets and I can try to re-draw the photo on their night-stand but I major in maths.”

Taeil wished he could take his words back when Yangyang burst into another hysterical fit of laughter.

“Drawing would be perfect! Here!” Ten held an iPad his way and Taeil tried to soothe himself because at least Yangyang didn’t think he had a vampire kink how Jungwoo did.

Things could always be worse!

So, Taeil, rather than spending a romantic date with Johnny, let Taeyeon draw a mystical sign onto his arm that made him stop freezing – incredibly – and then retold that embarrassing tale of Saturday night once more before scrawling the photo he recalled having used to confirm that he had not woken up in Mark’s bed.

He also found out Yangyang was still in training and repeatedly called Baby by both his mentors. It was very weirdly wholesome.

Taeil momentarily had considered asking how witch-training or magic in general worked, but he still felt bad having to admit to not being a responsible drinker and instead repeated the quadratic formula to feel better.

Oh, and then, his knight in shining armour appeared.

“Taeil?”

“Oh, hi Johnny!” Taeyong, Ten, and Yangyang greeted in unison and Taeil was once again terrified.

“Hey.” Johnny looked around as if he got the _vibe_ from them, too. “So?”

Taeil was being saved, that was all he cared about, saved by the tall, buff, handsome, dorky, sweet guy he was supposed to be on a date with.

What a glorious day.

“Oh, _you’re_ the date?” Ten asked, eyes wide.

“Yes, I am. Why are you keeping my date hostage?”

Yes, tell them, big Johnny who looked also very scared of the witches and who could blame him but please save him!

“Oh, we’re not anymore!” Taeyeon beamed and patted Taeil’s back. Was this a sign? Was he allowed to get up and leave?

“We were just collecting evidence,” Yangyang explained. The chart he had been drawing into the air started glowing and shrinking and then settled on his skin, turning into a tattoo like the one Taeil was currently wearing. Taeyeon had said it’d wear off in 4 hours.

“And? Any leads?” Johnny asked, worry turning into curiosity.

“We assume it’s our troublemaker again. What Taeil described fits. I really thought he had learnt, but it seems I had too much confidence in him. It’s upsetting, truly,” Ten shook his head in genuine disappointment.

“Yeah, tell Haechannie he doesn’t need to worry, we’ll take care of it and thanks for letting us know,” Taeyeon said and got up, straightening her skirt.

“Will do. Thanks.”

“Anytime, that’s our job, isn’t it?”

“ _You’re_ still learning, young man!”

“Come on, I’m pulling my weight here!”

Taeil watched Ten tuck on his trainee’s ear and Taeyeon suggest ice cream and then the trio of witches disappeared down the walkway.

“So. You know them?” Taeil asked and stepped closer to Johnny, who immediately interlinked their arms.

“I would have told you about them eventually. There’s so much. Sorry. Don’t deduct more points! Donghyuck would have forgotten, too!”

Taeil giggled and nodded.

“Good. I’m aiming for best tutor ever. And they’re kind of the good souls of the community.”

“Honestly, I was terrified of Ten for years now. At least I had good intuition.”

“That _vibe_.”

“Yeah.”

“But they do a lot of good. For witches, they’re really chill, too.”

“Mm. So, how about our date? Is it still happening? I wanted to ask what immortalities’ Archillis heels are.”

“Oof, you hit me with the big questions right away? When I just heroically saved you from the witches’ claws?”

“Didn’t you just say they’re the good souls?” Taeil raised an eyebrow.

Johnny grinned.

“I still want to be complimented, though. Or rewarded.”

“Do you? What were you thinking about?”

Johnny glanced around, but they were alone. No one else found it a brilliant past-time to hang out on a freezing bench in the middle of campus at 7 pm on a winter night.

“I felt like the second date is a good one to kiss?”

“It is. But I think you’ll have to lean down.”

Johnny giggled and Taeil let his hand settle in his nape, stroking the short hair for a second before Johnny had closed the distance between them and was kissing him.

Taeil had been right eying those plush, curved lips. They were extremely kissable.

“So, we’re going to talk about immortality, and then I wanted to ask you on some tips for tutoring.”

“Romantic topics only.”

“Oh, just wait, I have a goal for this walk and I hope by the time we get there, we will have finished all the un-romantic topics. I specifically asked Jaemin for coffee and it’ll still be hot once we arrive.”

“Is it stargazing?”

“Yes. But from inside because I’m freezing.”

“I got a warmth spell. I don’t think I can share it, though…”

“Aw, I’m so jealous!”

Johnny whined and wrapped his arms around Taeil as if to try to use him as his personal heater. He smelt somewhat yummy albeit a bit dead…

“Oh my god! Wait! Johnny! I forgot to eat! Oh my god, this being a vampire thing isn’t for people like me!”

“What? No, of course, it’s for you, it can be for everyone! I’ll help you figure it out. Open up!”

So, Taeil let Johnny feed him the tablet and then help him figure out how to get rid of his fangs again for half an hour because Johnny was actually a pretty terrible mentor.

And yet Taeil felt like because of Johnny, this vampire-situation could actually turn out to be not as awful as it had seemed at first.

Well, at least he had made it to the 24-hour mark without anyone finding out.

What would happen in the future was yet to be seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking around ~ I honestly enjoyed writing this story and writing Taeil the way I did, but I dont really have a big vision for it, so I decided to end it where it felt right ~ Let me know your thoughts plssss 
> 
> [CC]()  
> Twitter: @155Fox

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, let me know what you think? ^^
> 
> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)  
> Twitter: @155Fox


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